ok, usually a bird i can identify all the time, i think the back feathers threw me off, not used to the black and white pattern
here is one of my shots of the wilsons snipe, per justin an elusive, fast and rare species for here, but we got it. same bird, slightly better lighting and who would come to florida and not photograph a turtle, although its name escapes me at the moment
Yep - the anhingas that have the light colored neck and underside are the females...the males are all black. I've had local friends come up from Ft. Lauderdale 10-12 times in 6 months time and never get to see a snipe...even some long-time birders can be jealous of that one. And the turtle is the cooter...one of Florida's endemic turtles, quite similar to red-eared sliders but without the red ears!
and the great egret, distinguished from the snowy egret by the black legs, the snowy has yellow legs. notice the green lores, around the eyes/beak, and the bright yellow beak, additional finery to attract a mate
my take on the belted kingfisher, again, gotta love those 51 mp on the a1, this was taken with the 100-400 at f5.6 racked all the way out to 400mm. i did have the 1.4 teleconverter with me but didn't start using it until saturday. this is heavily cropped in from the original and still plenty of detail. shutter speed 1/3200 with iso of 800. iso floated there on auto and a mystery bird, i can't remember what bird this is. it's a duck, pretty sure of that, but nothing else. justin?? the good thing is as i get birds identified i am keywording them with their identity, so i figure that will help with next year.
Nice shot of the little lady, kingfisher. Definitely good to have those spare MPs! The unknown is the black-bellied whistling duck...always a favorite in Florida's wetlands with their cool colors.
@gary Great photos. I’m curious on using a teleconverter with an F5.6 ? In the past I read, don’t use it on a lens slower then f4, because it’ll be too slow. Nikon mirrorless just released a 100-400mm, I believe same f stop as yours and they’re saying just use a teleconverter too.
Nancy, it's dependent on the camera. The older advice in SLR/DSLR days on not using a TC with a slower lens was due to the fact that the focus systems were either badly slowed down, or in many cases, couldn't even achieve autofocus at all over F6.3. But mirrorless cameras mostly re-wrote those rules and most have no problems keeping fast autofocus even with F5.6...or F6.3 lenses for that matter. I sometimes use a 1.4x TC on my 200-600mm F5.6 - 6.3 lens, which is a maximum aperture of F9, and still track birds in flight and shoot in low light forest conditions - focus is no problem:
this egret in flight was shot at 400 mm f5.6 at 1/3200. later on i have some from saturday with the telex tender on, same shutter speed, aperture at 6.3
so it wasn't just birds, justin will have to help with the name of this spider, but it photographs nicely. i just ordered a ring flash for the end of my macro lens, i will be doing some macro flower and insect work this year. looking forward to more even lighting for orchids, since the nybg orchid show has opens this week, and for the rose garden in june.
I've started to go through my pictures. I think this one is the Blue Winged Teal duck pair. 3 04 22 Blue Winged Teal duck 0457 by Joanie E-K, on Flickr
Nice one of the spider Gary - I like to look for the little things while out looking for birds too - some insects can be quite colorful and amazing close-up. That one is the orchard orbweaver spider. Joanie - very nice and also correct - that's the male (left) and female blue-winged teal couple.
Here is my shot of the Orchard Orb weaver spider. I'm extremely happy with the way the Nikon Z9 nails focus. This spider was extremely tiny in the original frame that I shot. The resolution is fantastic too! 3 04 22 orchard orbweaver spider 0505 by Joanie E-K, on Flickr
@gary I’m thinking about doing some macro photography, mostly flowers. Are the extension tubes(Kenko) worth buying? What’s your recommendation for FL on FF? Thank you
Plus, it's a VERY small spider! Those not familiar with it should know - it's about 4mm in body length, or .15 inch. That's about the distance between the bottom of Lincoln's chin to the tip of his nose on a penny. Now everyone can appreciate just how small that spider was and probably a very small portion of the frame before you cropped!
